This report examines various aspects of Green Star Communities v1. The first sections deal with greenhouse gas emissions and building information modelling, and a review of the literature about Green Star Communities. The last sections comprise research which considers the Green Star Communities Submission guidelines, the Calculators, and usability.

Smart city and smart home concepts have become increasingly popular, especially in the last decade. Many people have positive notions of living in a smart city or smart home, but not too many users can really define what these concepts mean.

The National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC) guided the China Quality Certification Center (CQC) to develop a China TOP TENs Best Energy Efficient Practices list to highlight energy savings practices for the China’s buildings sector. The list covers a broad range of building practices including commercial and residential.

Schools are a vital part of any healthy and thriving community. There is growing appreciation of the significant role that good design can play in education, with increasing evidence that student learning outcomes are closely related to the quality of the environment in which they learn.

Josh’s House is an exemplar of integrated water sensitive urban design at the residential housing scale.
Josh’s House is an innovative housing-scale sustainable design and construction project based in Hilton WA, led by environmental scientist and national media personality Dr Josh Byrne in conjunction with Curtin University and the CRC for Low Carbon Living.

Urban Efficiency II: Seven Innovative City Programmes for Existing Building Energy Efficiency builds on research in the successful predecessor “Urban Efficiency” Report and captures seven new detailed city case studies from C40 member cities. It is primarily targeted at city-level policy makers and decision makers across the world.

This week’s launch of Melbourne’s first zero energy display home, initially developed for a CRC for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) research program, was part of a $2.18 million energy-efficiency housing pilot program announcement for Victoria.

The business case for High Performance Buildings (HPBs) traditionally cites energy savings and increased asset value as the most appealing incentives. But another – and arguably greater – form of enhanced value creation that comes through HPBs is rarely discussed: HPBs benefit the people who occupy them, which in turn produces significant positive impacts on a company’s bottom line.

The purpose of this briefing paper is to explore the context and challenges that exist in providing low carbon homes for households on low incomes, and to draw attention to the key issues for practitioners working in the field.